SAR1a promoter polymorphisms are not associated with fetal hemoglobin in patients with sickle cell disease from Cameroon.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Reactivation of adult hemoglobin (HbF) is currently a dominant therapeutic approach to sickle cell disease (SCD). In this study, we have investigated among SCD patients from Cameroon, the association of HbF level and variants in the HU-inducible small guanosine triphosphate-binding protein, secretion-associated and RAS-related (SAR1a) protein, previously shown to be associated with HbF after HU treatment in African American SCD patients. RESULTS:Only patients >5 years old were included; hemoglobin electrophoresis and a full blood count were conducted upon arrival at the hospital. RFLP-PCR was used to describe the HBB gene haplotypes and Gap PCR to investigate the 3.7 kb ?-globin gene deletion. The iPLEX Gold Sequenom Mass Genotyping Array and cycle sequencing were used for the genotyping of four selected SNPs in SAR1a (rs2310991; rs4282891; rs76901216 and rs76901220). Genetic analysis was performed using an additive genetic model, under a generalized linear regression framework. 484 patients were studied. No associations were observed between any of the promoter variants and baseline HbF, clinical events or other hematological indices. CONCLUSION:The results of this study could be explained by possible population-specificity of some tagging genomic variants associated with HbF production and illustrated the complexity of replicating HbF-promoting variants association results across African populations.

SUBMITTER: Pule GD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5427596 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature